Ask the Readers $200 Giveaway: What’s Your Top Tip to Stay in Touch with Colleagues Without Spending a Fortune?

We all know the importance of keeping in touch and communicating with your colleagues when it comes to professional success. However, sometimes keeping in contact with your colleagues can be expensive. Luckily, there are ways to offset the cost of maintaining communication with your professional contacts!

How do you stay in touch with colleagues without spending a fortune? Do you use any particular apps or tools? What money-saving strategies have you found to be useful useful when communicating with your colleagues?

Tell us how you stay in touch with colleagues without spending and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $100 Skype Gift Card or one of two $50 Visa Gift Cards!

Win a $100 Skype gift card or one of two $50 Visa Gift Cards

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Being a homemaker with a tiny business at this time of my life, I mainly use the phone and email to keep in touch with business contacts. As life goes forward, I'm sure that I will be using more things like LinkedIn, social media, Twitter, and other connective media to get in touch with my colleagues and customers. I'm actually looking forward to it!

I find it easiest to catch up with colleagues through email. We all use it every day, and it's easy to drop a note with an article they might find interesting, or ask them what they thought of the premier of a tv show you know they watch. If I'm even closer to them, I might text every once in awhile in the same vein.

I honestly find that most people I try to keep in touch with prefer to be emailed. You can quickly type what you want to say, and there is no need to immediately respond. Instead, you can pick a time at your own leisure to respond, which tends to get a less hurried and more thoughtful response. You can also refer back to the email as necessary. I also sometimes use Skype or other social media sites, especially including Facebook, where you can send private messages, chat messages, or public messages. I also use Wifi instead of my cellphone plan whenever possible.

I am able to use the aforementioned sites and methods to such a degree that I'm able to get a way with having a $12/month plan through Page Plus. If I desperately need more minutes for a lengthy conversation, I just use my husband's $35 unlimited text, talk, and data plan through MetroPCS.

For men, a great way to keep a real bond is to play video games together. I have a pretty extensive network of people I enjoy gaming with that I know I could genuinely count on in a pinch. Where women have no problem talking on the phone for a few hours to maintain a connection, men don't really do that. Playing video games and talking during play works wonders. Even Frank Underwood from House of Cards plays so it must be a great method for rising to the top!

Dropbox and GoogleDocs! Dropbox makes it easy to share files and GoogleDocs allows for collaboration and editing wherever we are - whether it's across the room or across the country. They're straight-forward, easy-to-use and best of all, they can be used for free!

It varies depending on the friend. Some of my friends love to talk on the phone, and if we both have Skype, then we use Skype. Some only like to text, and that's what we'll do. But some like to send postcards and letters, and I'll gladly send them one back--I love the old-fashioned way of communicating sometimes!

LinkedIn is good because (if your contacts left their announcements on), the site reminds you that they had a work anniversary or their change of job position or company. It makes it easy to click a button and send them a quick email of congrats.

I have never owned or used a cell phone or an iPhone or any other gadget like that.
If I need to get in touch, I use a regular telephone or send a quick, short email.
My phone has a flat rate so I can call anywhere for the same price. That saves a bundle, and frees me up to read more good books, with nobody able to get in touch with me.

Skype and FaceTime are my go-to tools for keeping in touch. Email is still the easiest option, but when you really need to have a face-to-face conversation, using a video conferencing tool is critical!

A good way to stay connected with professional contacts is LinkedIn, because when colleagues in your network trigger an event (e.g., post a blog, get a promotion, etc.), it notifies you and gives you a reason to reach out and connect.

Professional organizations and use of Linkedin.com are most efficient way to maintain professional connects, network and keep your skills up-to-date. Linkedin.com handles professional contacts very efficiently. One can post news of recent projects, new skills, professional milestones AND comment on those of colleagues. Professional Organization membership is the second best investment. Stay abreast on latest developments in your field, serve on the board, present on your own experience/services, network and build your Linkedin.com contacts. Join a Linkedin.com group for your professional field, share good articles and comment on questions from other members. The Linkedin.com email gives you access to a wide range of secondary contacts also.

In order to stay in touch with my college friends, we use Facebook and also set aside a specific date each month to go to dinner. We also email photos to each other through our phone, and I skype my sister in Hawaii. I text my family a lot and email photos. I also send digital cards via email.

i have been using skype for 10yrs now coz m90% of my family & friends lives outside US its the only way for me to communicate with them without costing us so much. since wifi is readily available for free now when we are out & its also part of what we are paying on our monthly internet service, there is no need to pay extra using skype.

i also like using FREE VoIp service when calling landline since there are lots of apps that provide such service there is no need to pay expensive monthly bill at all

The Internet is the best form of communication that has happened. It allows you to get in touch you knew ages ago and had no idea still existed. My school friends have moved out to different parts of the world and I could reconnect only because of the net. One of my best friends is in NZ & I am in India in a completely different hemisphere. Yet we get to connect and bond so well thanks to the net. It's the same with my hubby and our siblings - they are all living across the globe and I get in touch with them via the net. MY current favorite tools are Facebook and Skype. I also use Whatsapp and Gtalk occasionally. Without these applications, I would be totally cut off from everyone!

To keep in touch with anyone and keep it affordable. I use Skype.My daughter lives in England Uk and it's the way I get to know my 3 year old grandson Finley.I also use it at work to keep in touch with other sister companies to preform my job. Makes it easier to have meetings when you just cant get there!

I use Skype a lot since I work with people in Italy. It's really handy since I can talk for free if they have Skype. It's still cheap if I need to call a mobile number and don't want to ask a potential client if they have Skype. Other than that it's mostly email.

I use my WiFi to stay in touch with colleagues. I downloaded Google Voice and GrooVeIP Lite to make free calls. I also use email and social media. It's nice that everyone is online in some way or another making it easy to stay connected.